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The Samurai Hairstyle – Or How Men With Curly Hair Use Buns!

The Samurai hairstyle is a modern hairstyle for men with long curly hair. It is styled in a hair bun high on the head and doesn’t require haircuts or complex grooming. It is great for curly men so read ahead to widen your range of curly hairstyles!

So I was writing tips on the Afro hairstyle and I used the Samurai hairstyle as a method for tying one’s Afro so as to avoid the curls tangling. Then, I realized that, hey, I have actually sported the Samurai hairstyle before and that, since it is a feasible hairstyle for us curly haired men, I might as well write an article on it. Thus, I bring you, my dear readers, the Samurai hairstyle.

Oops, wrong picture. Let’s try another one:

Badass and much better!

The Samurai hairstyle is a great hairstyle for men with curly hair who have medium or long length curls. The Samurai hairstyle differentiates itself from a traditional ponytail in that the hair is tied higher on the head (vertex or top) and it is put into a hair bun. The Samurai hairstyle is a great style for those men who want their curly hair to be tied tight while still displaying some manly attributes. It is a perfect hairstyle for those who do a lot of physical activities as the hair doesn’t move around; those who go to the gym, for example, will benefit from the Samurai hairstyle and I have worn it frequently to lift heavy weights. The Samurai hairstyle can be sported with any hair texture, be it straight hair or curly hair, although we dudes with curls need some good hairstyling options outside of those related to buzz cuts, hence my emphasis on the Samurai hairstyle’s use for curly hair.

The Samurai hairstyle is loosely based on the Chonmage haircut sported by Samurai men and Sumo wrestlers. With the Chonmage, the hair was styled on the top to a tight hair bun, sometimes shaving parts of the top of the hair to indicate the status of these Japanese men. These days, however, the Samurai hairstyle has been morphed into a hair bun tied on the vertex or top of the head without any further hair styling or cutting, and quite a few modern men regardless of location do sport this hairstyle, including yours truly.

The Samurai hairstyle is an stylish option for urban men

The Samurai hairstyle is sometimes wrongly referred to as a man bun, which is an incorrect term as men can also wear buns so no need to add the word man to bun. Likewise, a bun can be placed on other areas of the head thus calling the Samurai hairstyle a man bun is too imprecise for a hairstyle.

This is a conventional hair bun, not a samurai bun nor a man bun!

This is a samurai hairstyle, notice how the bun is placed high on the head

For the Samurai hairstyle to work best, I recommend you not to have over 8 inches of hair (check out my hair length guide) because you want your bun to be thin and blend in nicely into the contour of your head. If you have hair longer than 8 inches, then a conventional hair bun is more appropriate.

To do the Samurai hairstyle, the hair from the top of the head is tied with the hair on the back and sides into a bun which is placed on the vertex or top of the head. The vertex, for those who think I am talking Matrix jargon, is the posterior (back) area on the top of the head. The Samurai bun is tied tight, trying to tame any volume of the bun so that it doesn’t look fluffy or puffy. Like I so enthusiastically explain in my bestselling book, The Curly Hair Book (click the link to see it on Amazon), you should always use hair bands (to tie the hair) that do not have metallic bits around the length of the band; the actual ends of the band should be glued or sewn in.

The Samurai hairstyle has even been depicted in Disney movies!

Grow an epic beard for an extra touch of manliness!

As I have said, the Samurai hairstyle suits those men with curly or wavy hair who have medium or long curls and have an active lifestyle (gym, outdoors activities, boxing). It is a neat hairstyle that requires the hair bun to be tied tightly on the top of the head. Men with hair over 8 inches should stay away from the Samurai hairstyle as so should men who are balding, since this hairstyle places great stress on hair follicles, which can damage them. So there, fellow men with curly hair, get yourself some samurai inspiration and exude some cool uniqueness on your manes with the Samurai hairstyle!

All the best.

Rogelio

P.S: Not only did I write my bestselling book, The Curly Hair Book, but I also got bored again (or so it seemed!) and I went on to write and publish another epic hair care and styling book, The Men’s Hair Book (click the link to see at Amazon), which also hit bestseller status. Have a read through both books at their official Amazon pages in the links I posted and buy any of them if you want to learn all about your hair while actually enjoying your reading time and even have a couple of LOL’ing times (and all without the BS and sugarcoating). Any questions with regards to the Samurai style or my books, feel free to post them below in the comments section!

Rogelio is the go-to guy when it comes to men's hair. Having embraced his natural curly hair for over a decade while living in 5 countries, Rogelio has learnt a thing or two along the way. Rogelio is the author of the two bestselling men's books "The Curly Hair Book" and "The Men's Hair Book", and his motto when it comes to hair is, "Gentlemen, having a good head of hair should not cost us our testosterone".

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3 comments for “The Samurai Hairstyle – Or How Men With Curly Hair Use Buns!”

Dave K

February 22, 2014 at 9:38 pm

Love your site bro!! bought the mens hair book some weeks ago already and enjoying every single page as I can now make sense of all these products, conditioners and styling my hair which used to be a dead rat like you call it in the book lol really noticing the changes already and I have only started to make some small adjustments following some of the advice in the book so can’t imagine what it will be like once I put the whole system into action!
Also I have medium length hair and I now want to grow it long following the guide in your book, I think a bun can look pretty cool for a guy actually and one style I would like to try once my hair is long enough :P
Thanks for everything bro, you are true inspiration :-)